Colorado Observations

 

We have now been in the Springs for a week and a half and there are few things that I have observed about the area, and the changes that I have enjoyed in myself because of our location.

1. The weather is extremely ADD.  87 degrees, sunny and then quickly followed by grey skies and thunderstorms. Very wonderful! :)  Just when you think it's getting too hot, you are surprised by the beautiful and refreshing rain.

2. I don't wear a lot of makeup, nor do the women of the Springs.  I have never felt very comfortable going to the store wearing athletic shorts, a tank top, hair in a pony tail, with a clean face.  It's so refreshing to know that there is an area in the country where people...just... are.

3. I have been loving my Chacos and the lack of toe nail polish.

4. I have a desire to want to be outside.

5. People cannot drive here... at least on the freeways.  I traveled to the Denver area to see a friend and while it was a lovely drive, it was so frustrating!  I was coming down a hill and noticed that everyone was in the left lane trying to pass one truck with a trailer.  At least 20 cars trying to pass one car.  The speed limit is 75, so people go at least 80.  The person leading the passing train is going 78 which allows for them to pass the truck who is going 76, but at a very slow rate.  Does this sound like a physics question yet?  Well it should!  The answer is quite easy.  Increase your speed to quickly and efficiently to pass the truck, then proceed to return to the right lane of travel so others may also quickly pass you.  I promise it is as easy as that.  I might've actually been speaking loudly, otherwise known as yelling, and putting both hands, yes both, on my head in frustration.  Alas, I did arrive at my location, but it was not as enjoyable as a drive in the mountains should be.

6. I think just living here is making me eat healthier.

7. My thoughts often drift towards the idea of living outdoors and having few possessions.

8. While people live in nice big houses and drive nice cars, people are not as pretentious here.  While this is probably just my limited world view at this time, I have enjoyed seeing this welcome change to the Dallas mentality.  I saw a Porsche with a bike rack on it.  It made me laugh cause I don't think I would put my bike on a $90,000 car.  Dallas folk believe that: I may only make $30,000 a year, but I will appear to be more wealthy cause I will drive a brand new red Mercedes and have a $800 purse and eat out frequently at ritzy joints even if that means living in an apartment and being $20,000 in debt. 

I am sure there are many more little things that I have seen since being here, but they have slipped my mind at this time.

I am super excited for this weekend.  Sean and I will be going camping with some friends who live north of Denver.  It's going to be awesome!!! Can you believe that this is the first time that Sean and I have gone camping as a married couple. Can't wait.  And we are going to have wonderful company with Alison and Aaron Rogstad.  They are practically REI representatives.

Pictures to come next week.

Summer Opportunity

WARNING: SUPER LONG POST :)

Earlier this last fall, one of Sean's professors told him about an opportunity in Colorado Springs for an internship with the Navigators.  We talked about it and prayed about it and decided to start the process and see what came about.  Later in January, Sean had a Skype interview with David Brown.  He is a former graduate of DTS's Biblical Counseling program and he wanted to bring students up for an opportunity to pick up more face-to-face counseling  hours.  David works with the People Resources Team (PRT) and provides counseling for staff at the Navigators headquarters as well as counseling for returning missionaries.

The interview went well, but we were going to have to wait a while to see if he was offered the position.  We continued to pray about it because it would mean a 2 month temporary move for both of us.  I would have to quit my job, find someone to sublease our apartment at DTS and then see if we could afford to live in Colorado Springs for the summer.

Sean found out that he was chosen to go to Colorado Springs!  Out of all the DTS counseling student applicants, Sean was offered the position.  We wer thrilled that we were going to be able to start this amazing journey!

There were so many wonderful things that God did to prepare the way for us.  First of all, I have been working at my job for almost 2 years and after the first 6 months, I started to realize that it was not a good fit for me.  While I loved the patient population (cardiac patients, open heart surgery, lung surgery), I was not blending well with the management on the floor. Our original assistant nurse manager left to go to a different floor, so that changed things drastically.  I really did like working with a few of the nurses, but there were some teamwork problems and it wasn't a healthy environment for me.  I applied for an ICU job in December, but I had to preface my interview with the nurse manager with the information that I could be taking a 2 month leave of absence about 2 months after starting the job. Needless to say, she wasn't really thrilled that I even bothered to apply for the job.  Anyways, if you would like more juicy details about my work situation and the emotional roller coaster that it put me on for the last year and a half and especially the last 9 months, email me. 
After I realized that I would be able to leave my job, and then come back in the fall and apply for a new one, I was on board!  I also had some great contacts with some travel nurse agencies and that looked like a promising option for a job.
Sean was also informed by David, that we would be staying at their house, rent free and they would be paying for our food while we were there as well.  Things were starting to really look up.
We found someone to sublease our apartment for the summer as well.

By this point, we knew it was a must go and that every little detail would be taken care of beautifully.

We said our fair wells this last Thursday and took off Friday morning.  We decided to turn the 13 hour drive into two days that way we could be relaxed by the time we arrived.  We headed to Amarillo and got there safely.  We went to Palo Duro Canyon the next morning before taking off to Colorado Springs.

I love road trips for this reason alone.  You get to appreciate God's beauty all around our country.  His fingerprints are so evident in all of creation.  Even the flat "boring" terrain of west Texas has it's beauty and the people who live there are thankful for the land's ability to sustain agriculture and animals.

The canyon is the 2nd largest in the US, obviously second to the Grand Canyon.  We had a nice little walk around the upper part of the park and then headed on the road to gain 3000 ft in elevation.  Dallas is roughly 400 ft above sea level, Amarillo is 3000 ft (can you believe that?) and Colorado Springs is 6,200 ft.

 We were able to get into town on Saturday evening and we sat down to a wonderful home cooked meal with David and Jill.  We realized that we clicked instantly, and that it was another God thing, that we were going to have a great relationship with this couple.

We went to church with them on Sunday, met their amazing bible study/small group friends and got a little feel of the area.  We were able to walk around that evening and get to really appreciate the sweet little neighborhood that we live in.  All the houses in this part of Colorado Springs are part of the "Old Colorado City."  Lots of early 1900's homes and Victorian style.  Basically I am obsessed with the homes. David and Jill live in a sweet little brick house with lots of great architecture.

Monday, Sean had his first day at the Navigators headquarters and I took him there in the morning.  I decided that I would really initiate myself well by taking a brisk walk/jog in the Garden of the Gods.  UM AWESOME!!!  Sean really has a tough location.  He is literally 500 feet away from the park.  I was able to go into the park and find a place to park the car.  I was out walking the trails with all the early morning locals. It was so wonderful.  I felt such peace as I walked around the trails.  I know that we are supposed to be here!

I took this photo on my walk.  I was able to see Pikes Peak in between the rock formations.  So beautiful.

I filled out a few job applications for some local work at day surgery facilities, travel nursing companies and a local hospital.  I was also able to make a few phone calls with some connections from people back home.  The job is in the works.  Continue to pray that the right job will come along.  We know that God is taking care of us financially, so we are leaving it up to the big guy.

On Tuesday, David suggested that Sean and I just take the day off to explore the town a little and to just really rest and relax.  We slept in and I had a brief interview with a travel nurse agency.  Afterwards we traveled to some near by parks and decided that we better see the Garden of the Gods together.

We are so lucky to get to be in such a gorgeous part of the country for the next 2 months.  We are really learning a lot about being still and enjoying the simpler things in life.  David and Jill don't have a TV, so that will be nice to train ourselves to not be dependent on that stimulation.  I have already noticed that I am being still more and learning to quiet my heart.

Sean is still loving his job and is really encouraged by the positive feedback he is getting from David and his clients.  Pray that God does something big in him this summer and that he will learn a lot from this opportunity.

We are excited to get to be in Colorado this summer and we are hoping to get to be pretty outdoorsy and climb some mountains and do some hiking.  First thing though, need a couple weeks to build up some hemoglobin so I don't get altitude sickness :)

Spring break road trip

 For Spring break this year, Kate (the nurse that we had Thanksgiving with) told us that we could stay at her family's property in Orange Beach, Alabama.  We thought that this would be a nice little vaca away from Texas for a week.  We drove the 12 hour road trip in two days.  The first night we stopped in New Orleans.  We had some great gumbo and seafood!

The net morning we went on a trolley ride and saw some amazing old homes and of course did Bourbon street and saw the mighty Mississippi.

 I have about 20 pictures of old houses, but I figured that you wouldn't like to sift through all of those.

This river boat was playing some of the most awful sounding calliope music.  Talented, yes, nice sounding, no. But the experience was nice.

We then had another 6 hour drive to Orange Beach.  That week we got to see the gulf, relax, sleep in and even get some sun.  It was a much needed time away.

We even went to a local go cart track.  I totally won, and by that, I mean, I never let Sean pass me.

Sean on the Farm

I found some more Christmas time pictures from this last December!

To prove that he has done it, this is a picture of Sean and my dad feeding the cows in the pasture on Sunday morning. Nice and cold.  Oh yeah and we broke down.

Sandi, Sean's mom, was so good to get us all to have some family pictures together.  This is one of the better shots of Sean and I from that day.

Christmas 2011

I worked Christmas again this year at the hospital, so that put our trip back home to the 1st two weeks in January.  We got to spend some much needed time at home relaxing with our families.  This was Karissa and Adam's first Christmas with us and they drove up from Nevada for the occasion.

My camera died this year at Christmas, so this was the only picture of the entire 2 weeks that I got.  Makes up for last year I guess when I didn't have any pictures of my family.

Thanksgiving 2011

It seems like you never realize how much you appreciate your family until you don't have them near you.

We have been so lucky to have Kate and Aria (couple in the middle) in our lives.  Kate works with me on 13 Roberts, the cardio/thoracic surgical telemetry floor, at Baylor in Dallas.  Her husband goes to DTS with Sean and they play on the same basketball team. (I believe he is standing on the ottoman, because he is not quite that tall).  Her parents, Jack and Barb Stein, live in Arlington, which is just about 20-30 min drive.  They invited us to join them for Thanksgiving this year.  We had a delicious meal and great company.  I am so happy to have them in our lives.

Record setting heat

There wasn't too much else to report about during the Summer of 2011, except for the record breaking heat in Dallas and most of the south.  We had 60+ days in a row of 100+ degree heat and then we had a total of 100+ days over a 100 degrees.  Basically, it was hot as Hades! The chaplain at Seminary down here said that when he first moved to Dallas, he thought that he had moved to Hell cause it was so hot.   I figure, if he can say it, so can I!

We couldn't even find reprieve in the pool at our apartment.  It was just too hot! The water was even warm.  Not one bit refreshing.

But we survived, and actually last summer was the best time that we had since moving to Dallas.  Our friendships only became stronger and it was a good feelings knowing that we had 1 full year of school under our belts.